Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.

Richard Garriott has the best geek cred, ever. Not only was his father an astronaut, but also he earned a not-so-small fortune writing videogames. Garriott plays with the most awesome toys (he owns a freakin’ Sputnik), lives in the coolest house (featured on HGTV and MTV’s Cribs), and has the most fun of anyone you’ll ever meet.

During his flight to the
International Space Station from 10 October to 24 October 2008, video game designer and first second-generation astronaut Richard Garriott had to planned a spacewalk outside the
International Space Station wearing a to-die-for timepiece: the Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk watch. Alas, neither Garriott nor the Spacewalk walked in space.

A documentary on space tourism will be appearing on Thursday, January 31, at 9pm EST on the Travel Channel. _Space: The Final Vacation_ promises an out-of-this-world look at the armchair astronaut's most coveted destination.

Customers Lining Up to Tour Space But a ticket may cost almost $100,000

This article appeared in the business and finance section, not the human interest section. Next milestone is for it to appear in the travel section, where future space tourists will lust for the ultimate "get away from it all" vacation.

"October Sky" is a delightful film based on the autobiographical book "Rocket Boys" by Homer Hickham Jr, which tells of his inspiration as a teenager by the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957. As a result he decided he wanted to build rockets, although his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps as a coal-miner. Encouraged by his school-teacher and his mother, Homer began building model rockets with some friends, and through persistence they ultimately won a national science competition - and scholarships that allowed them to escape from coal-mining. (Homer himself ended up working for NASA, from where he recently retired.)

Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, spoke on the Discovery Channel on May 11 about his plans to offer space trips to the public, which he has mentioned before. "Never has the idea of space travel been more popular and most of us dream that we might just see the Earth from space during our lifetime. The exciting thing about technological development is that it can rapidly make the seemingly impossible become reality and nowhere is that more true than transport."